Just Stay at Home

I'm not sure I understand how Maxwell Lord's vaguely defined powers work. I know he can "push" people into believing certain things. He can convince them that things never happened or that they happened in a very different way. The two big examples are the death of Blue Beetle (murder vs. suicide) and the OMAC Project (Max Lord vs. Lex Luthor). My big question has to do with the latter.

If the world thinks Lex Luthor was responsible for the OMAC Project then... Who does Lex Luthor think was responsible? I won't buy that Max can even convince a mind as powerful as Luthor's that he did something he didn't do. That just won't fly with me.

As I see it, the other explanation is that Lex Luthor knows he didn't play a part in the OMAC Project. And that that inconsistency also means that he knows who Maxwell Lord is.

Luthor, of course, doesn't care what Max is up to. He's got his own agendas and couldn't care less at this point what the world thinks of him. He got his pardon and is back in control of his company. As long as Max doesn't butt heads with Luthor there won't be a problem.

Of course, this is all just idle speculation; clearly we aren't going to see any connection between these two stories. But how much fun would it be? After all, Max Lord seems to want to rule the world. And as far as Lex Luthor's concerned that's his job.

Yeah, spoiler alert. And sorry to anyone who had the ruined and also cared. I can't imagine there are all that many of you.

Yes, in last week's Generation Lost Maxwell Lord killed Magog. I figured it would be safe to talk about it after a week. I'm assuming that is the case. If you're angry at me and don't want me to spoil further then go away.

The death of Magog wasn't something I was expecting. But in hindsight it's not so surprising. After the failure of his solo series DC didn't seem to know what to do with him. The only person who seemed to have liked Magog was Geoff Johns anyway.

Magog was originally a symbol in Kingdom Come of all that was bad about the superhero fare of the 90's. Shoulderpads. Pouches. Angry glares from someone other than Batman. And as a symbol of that era and why it was wrong Magog served his purpose. His presence and mistakes allowed Superman to step in and show us what a real hero was.

But I'm not here to talk about that Magog (I didn't even like Kingdom Come all that much). I'm here to talk about the in continuity Earth Zero Magog. And on "New Earth" Magog never fit. As a symbol of a very non-DCU type of heroism he was always out of place. So I suppose he was always fated to die.

After all, if Magog had lived he would -- as the White Lantern warned -- have led the DCU down the dark path that led to Kingdom Come on that other Earth. In killing him Max Lord has indeed saved his universe from that fate.

That is not to say I agree with what Max Lord did. There are always ways, and perhaps this iteration of Magog could have been led down a brighter path. Nothing is predestined or predetermined.

Still, we'll never really know what might have happened. Max Lord took away any hope for redemption Magog might have had. And in the process he pulled himself further into the dark hole of villainy. Maxwell Lord may well be beyond redemption.

I realized something after thinking for a while about a teaser image posted recently. You know, the one featuring Batman outside the Justice League International embassy? I realized that Batman knows.

Now, obviously Batman knows lots of stuff. He's one of the smartest guys around. But I'm thinking of something very specific. During Blackest Night Batman was dead (or at least was assumed so). Most importantly, he wasn't on Earth during our time period (as far as we know). He wasn't around when Max Lord came back.

And he wasn't around when Max Lord mindwiped the planet.

That means when Batman does get back (hopefully sooner rather than later) he'll remember Max Lord. And it's a whole different ballgame when one of the people who knows the truth is someone other than the disgraced members of the JLI.

Max Lord didn't count on Batman. But Batman counts on everything.